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2015-16 Building Strong Geoscience Courses Workshop Facilitators

Anne Egger is the Director of Undergraduate Research and an Assistant Professor in the Geological Sciences and Science Education department at Central Washington University. Professor Egger's joint appointment reflects her research interests: her geologic research is focused on the tectonic development of the western margin of the Basin and Range province, and her geoscience education research is focused on developing curricular materials that incorporate societal issues, data, and geoscientific thinking. She has facilitated undergraduate curricular design at a variety of institutions, from reviving Stanford's undergraduate geophysics program to reflect the diverse research interests of the faculty, to developing the first Earth science undergraduate degree in Singapore at Nanyang Technological University, to redesigning the Middle-Level Science Teaching major at CWU. Through NAGT, she has led and co-led a series of workshops about teaching introductory courses. In addition, she led the effort at CWU to develop a new set of introductory science courses that integrate science and pedagogy for future teachers, using the Next Generation Science Standards as a guiding document.

Sara Harris is a Professor of Teaching in the department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a 2015 3M National Teaching Fellow. Since 2007, she has been a Departmental Director for the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at UBC, a major effort to improve undergraduate learning in science by implementing evidence-based, student-focused pedagogy. She has a PhD in oceanography from Oregon State University and a research background in paleoceanography and paleoclimate. During seven years as a chief scientist at Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, she studied modern oceans and sailed thousands of miles with undergraduate students. Sara's current research explores how people learn climate science. She is a co-author of Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Practice.

Kaatje Kraft is an assistant professor of geology at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, WA. Prior to moving to WA, she was a professor of geology at Mesa Community College and completed her PhD in Science Education examining affective factors that influence student persistence in introductory geoscience courses, particularly focusing on student motivation and use of self-regulatory strategies at two-year colleges. Kaatje was a part of the Geoscience Affective Research NETwork project GARNET and was able to observe many introductory geology courses across the country as part of that research in an effort to better understand how classroom instruction impacts student learning and affect. Kaatje has participated in and facilitated many Cutting Edge, Integrate and other NAGT-supported workshops over the past 10+ years.

Eric A. (Rick) Oches is currently Professor of geology and environmental sciences and Chair of the Department of Natural & Applied Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Prior to joining the Bentley faculty, Rick was Associate Professor of geology and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at University of South Florida. Rick's teaching and research interests focus on environmental sustainability and business planning to foster a more sustainable future in the context of population growth, increasing natural resource consumption, environmental degradation, and global climate change. Since coming to Bentley University, Rick's academic interests have increasingly centered on Earth and environmental science education, transdisciplinary course and curriculum development, and interdisciplinary faculty engagement to foster improved science literacy for non-STEM majors.

Barbara Tewksbury is a structural geologist, on the faculty at Hamilton College for over 35 years. She teaches courses in structural geology and tectonics, GIS, planetary geology, and an intro geo course on geology and human events in North Africa and the Middle East.

Karl Wirth is an Associate Professor in the Geology Department at Macalester College. He teaches courses in mineralogy, petrology, and planetary geology. His main research interests are in metacognition, metadisciplinary skills, and assessing student learning in the geosciences.